Les oreilles grandissent, mais jamais plus haut que la tête (Proverbe Dogon – Mali).
The ears grow, but never higher than the head (Dogon proverb – Mali).
The Importance of the Timbuktu’s Manuscripts and their Return
The Timbuktu’s Manuscripts are Returning Home to their rightful owners, after over 10 years away. It is so beautiful that the families who own these multi-centennial parts of African history get to have them back as it is not only part of their heritage, but ours also, and we are thankful for them to have protected throughout the centuries.
At the Ahmed Baba Institute in Bamako, people have been actively working on digitalizing all the manuscripts for humanity’s sake. These challenge the eurocentric views that “Africans have not entered enough in history” as the former French president Sarkozy said, even though many scholars from around the world used to travel to Timbuktu to find the best teachers. Through these manuscripts, we discover brilliant scholars, doctors, lawmakers, astronomers, mathematicians, geologists, and much more. After all, Timbuktu, was one of the world’s first and oldest university.
Excerpts below are from Africanews, and check out the Google Arts & Culture (Timbuktu Manuscripts now Available Online, The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu).
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… Among the manuscripts are medical texts, legal rulings, letters, astronomical notes and chronicles of West African empires.
In some pages, scholars debate whether smoking tobacco was moral or forbidden.
In others, officials urge reducing dowries so poorer men could marry.
Marginal notes record earthquakes and local events long forgotten elsewhere.
Sane Chirfi Alpha is the founding member of SAVAMA DCI, which is a local nonprofit organisation dedicated to the safeguarding, preservation, and promotion of the ancient Timbuktu manuscripts. He says the collection reveals a depth of scholarship that challenges assumptions about the region’s past.
“According to old documents, there were doctors here in Timbuktu who performed surgery to treat cataracts. The same manuscript also says that a doctor from Timbuktu saved the French throne. The crown prince was sick, and French doctors could not cure him. It was the doctor from Timbuktu who cured him.”
… One important tradition still documented in many manuscripts is the chain of teaching, where scholars recorded who taught whom through generations.
Dr Mohamed Diagayaté, general director of the Ahmed Baba Institute says: “When a student finishes studying with a scholar, that scholar gives him a certificate saying he has taught him a subject, which the student has mastered. The certificate also says that the student learned it from a certain scholar, and that this scholar learned it from another scholar, going right back to the person who wrote the original document.”
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Great Britain and South Africa hand back Ghanaian Royal Artefacts
Excerpts below are from BBC.
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Les colibris dans la sagesse Sotho / Hummingbirds in Sotho Wisdom
Là où il y a des colibris, il y a aussi de l’eau (Proverbe Sotho -Lesotho, Afrique du Sud). – Pas de fumée sans feu.
Where there are hummingbirds, there is also water (Sotho proverb – Lesotho, South Africa). – No smoke without fire.
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African Countries are Among the Most Vulnerable to Land Grabbing
The German platform Statista published a study titled, “Countries Most Vulnerable to Land Grabbing.” Land grabbing refers to a large-scale acquisition of land, often by powerful entities, multinationals, corporations, governments, usually foreigners and frequently involving unethical or exploitative practices. They involve the purchase or lease of massive lands mostly in developing countries. These land-grabs often raise high human issues, such as lack of compensation of the locals, removal of local populations from their lands, and environmental degradation.
From Statista’s study, the countries most at risk of land grabs are, no surprise, in Africa and Asia. Out of the 13 countries on the top list, 8 out of the 13 are African. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tops the list, followed by Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Mozambique and South Sudan. Liberia and Cameroon have sold the most: 14.6 % of the country of Liberia is in the hands of foreigners, while 8.5% of Cameroon is, so about 1.6 million hectares and 4 million hectares respectively. For countries like DRC or South Sudan, one could understand as there were wars in the country. But what about Cameroon? To be 3rd on the list, and have 4 million hectares (40,000 km²) of the country in the land of foreigners is crazy… To put it in perspective, 4 million hectares is roughly the size of Netherlands, Switzerland, or Denmark (excluding Greenland). Thus, the government of Cameroon has ceded land the size of the Netherlands to foreign interests between the years 2000 and 2024. This is without counting the ones ceded since independence… This is all done without the populations’ consent, and the countries almost get nothing, if not pennies? In Cameroon, majority of the companies are French, but there are also Chinese, American and more. As we saw in the case of Niger, or Cameroon with Safacam for instance, which has been there 130 years, but the road there is impracticable – they can grab everything, without even giving simple things like roads to the locals!
The Statisca survey goes on to indicate that the land acquired by foreign investors in Cameroon is primarily used for logging, mining, and industrial agriculture, such as palm oil production.
This is why African governments should be transparent, and expose every contract that they sign in our names and our children’s names so we know what is going on. African Governments should make Contracts Public to their Populations! They should take example on King Moshoeshoe I who banned the sale of the land of his ancestors to foreign investors. We should have a thing similar to the DOGE website to see all contracts!!! Moreover, if there is a call for contracts, how about our governments also open the call to locals? There are many Africans with great ideas!
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Foreign Access to Property Prohibited in Lesotho in 1859
As I see the sale of African lands to multinationals for pennies, or in some cases loans for 20-30-50 years and even 100 years, or like in Kenya (and certainly many other places) for 999 years (Did You Know about the 999-year Lease granted to Europeans in Kenya ?), I cannot help but think of King Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho who, in 1859, prohibited the sale of Sotho land to foreigners. This was a big NO. No ancestral lands could be sold to foreigners. Our current African leaders should learn from our forefathers; they, like Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho, or Gungunyane: the Lion of Gaza or the Last African King of Mozambique, or Mirambo: the Black Napoleon of Tanzania, understood the importance of our lands! The law below also gives a glimpse on the justice system as implemented in the Sotho kingdom under its first king. This is a historical document set in its time to be read with the protection of the integrity and protection of Sotho land in mind.
Below is the access to property law signed by King Moshoeshoe I in 1859 on his homeland of Lesotho. The original can be found in Les Africains, Tome 8, p. 254, ed. Jaguar. Translated to English by Dr. Y., Afrolegends.com
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Access to property: prohibited for traders, “White or colored”, 1859 law
I, Moshoeshoe, for any trader, whoever he may be, already present in my country, and for anyone who might come to trade with the Basutos ; my word is this :
Trading with me and my tribe is a good thing, and I hope it will grow.
Any merchant who wants to open a shop must first obtain my permission. If he builds a house, I do not give him the right to sell it.
Moreover, I do not give him the freedom to plow fields, but only to cultivate a small vegetable garden.
The merchant who imagines that the place where he stays belongs to him, must abandon this idea, otherwise he will leave; for there is no place on my soil that belongs to the Whites, and I have never given a place to a White, whether verbally or in writing.
Furthermore, any merchant who comes here with a debt, or who contracts one while he is on my soil, whatever his debt may be, if he is brought to me, I will make an inquiry into him in our court of justice in order to be able to settle the matter ; and the debt will be repaid in the way the Basutos repay their debts. But the plaintiff must appear before me, and the debtor as well, so that justice may be done. […]
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Meta Bows to Nigeria and Pays for Privacy Infraction
Another news which has almost gone unnoticed is the fact that the Nigerian government has fined Meta, the American tech giant, for breaching privacy laws; and Meta has decided to settle out of court to the fine!!! This is a major development for an African country, and then in general in an era where these giants own our data and dispose as they see fit. Last year, the Nigerian government had handed Meta a fine of $220 million, saying its investigations found “multiple and repeated” violations of the country’s data protection and consumer rights laws on Facebook and WhatsApp. Meta was accused of using Nigerians’ data for ads without their clear permission, collecting data from people who don’t even use its platforms, failing to file required reports, and sending user data abroad without proper approval.
This October, after months of legal battles, Meta Platforms Inc., the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has agreed to settle the case out of court and to pay $32.8 million to Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission for breaking the country’s data privacy rules. In all honesty, the sum is meagre … but it is a step forward (?). The Data Protection Commission has now ordered Meta to update its privacy policy, carry out local reviews of how it uses data, and always get user consent before using personal data for targeted advertising.
It’s like the Tech-giant thought that it was the usual far west in Africa, and business as usual for them and the way they treat Africans with the usual condescending; they thought they could do as they pleased with Nigerians’ information. Many experts think that this case sets a precedent and could influence how big tech companies handle user data across Africa as more countries introduce stronger privacy laws.
Enjoy excerpts below from Africanews.
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Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is set to settle a $32.8 million data privacy fine with the Nigerian government, marking a significant moment for digital rights enforcement in Africa.
The fine was imposed by Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission (NDPC) in February 2025 for alleged violations of the Nigeria Data Protection Act. Meta was accused of using Nigerian users’ data for behavioural advertising without explicit consent, processing personal data of non-users, failing to file mandatory compliance audits, and transferring user data abroad without authorisation.
The settlement, expected to be finalised by the end of October 2025, comes after months of legal disputes. Meta initially challenged the fine and the process but moved toward an out-of-court agreement, signalling willingness to comply with Nigeria’s growing regulatory demands.
This case highlights Nigeria’s assertiveness in regulating global tech companies and could set an influential precedent for data privacy enforcement across African markets.
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The UN Peacekeeping Force Reduced by 25%
There is a news which has gone undetected or rather not talked about much. Did you know that because of lack of funding, the United Nations (UN) is going to lose about a quarter of its peacekeepers! It is said that this is happening due to budget cuts from the American government; the UN will have to reduce its blue helmets (casques bleus) force on the ground, including some civilians. It was announced on October 8th.
“Nous allons devoir rapatrier, réduire d’environ 25% le nombre de nos effectifs de maintien de la paix militaires et policiers, ainsi que leur équipement, et un nombre important d’employés civils des missions vont également être touchés,” (“We will have to repatriate, reduce by about 25% the number of our military and police peacekeeping personnel, as well as their equipment, and a significant number of civilian employees of the missions will also be affected“) said an anonymous UN person to RFI.
This is equivalent to about 13,000 to 14,000 soldiers and policemen. Their repatriation could start in 6 weeks (now 4 weeks) and could go on over 12 to 18 weeks.
For those of us who watched MINUSMA (Mali), ONUCI (Cote d’Ivoire), MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)), MINUSCA (Central African Republic (CAR)), MINUSTAH (Haiti), etc… it is no secret that those have troops have been used to impose the wishes of the West and serve the interest of their masters in our countries. It is also well-documented that the UN peacekeeping has a sexual abuse problem. In the DRC, there are countless reports of UN peacekeepers being accused of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation; moreover, they have been accused of helping the rebel forces for all the minerals, and have rarely worked for the safety of the people. In Haiti, they caused the largest cholera outbreak in the nation’ history and deadliest in modern history. Furthermore, an Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed in 2017 that at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers from the UN were involved in a child sex ring in Haiti (both of girls and boys) over a 10-year period and that although 114 of them were sent home, none were charged for the crimes. In Mali, they have been accused of looting, and failing to uphold security and even fueling tensions – which they were brought in to do. In Cote d’Ivoire, the representative of ONUCI actually took sides in the country’s elections above the country’s supreme institutions; while the forces in the north of the country never helped stop the advancement of the rebel forces over the years, despite the government asking for help. In CAR, they have been accused of sexual exploitation, abuse, and other misconduct. The sex abuse is rife in CAR; at least 98 girls said they had been sexually abused by UN peacekeepers from Burundi and Gabon in 2014 and 2015. The UN successfully identified 41 troops accused of involvement in the incidents, and the personnel identified were returned to their homelands but have not faced charges. A public UN database has been recording sexual abuse and exploitation.
Thus, in view of all these, we will be happy when these so-called peacekeeping forces are removed from our territories or when they undergo a serious cleaning to serve the fair interests of ALL.
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Servir deux maîtres / Serving Two Masters
Quand deux femmes préparent le repas, il y aura certainement trop de sel (Proverbe Luo – Kenya).î
When two women prepare the meal, there will surely be too much salt (Luo proverb – Kenya).
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Raila Odinga in His Own Words
As we celebrate the life of this great fighter for Kenyan democracy, we will remember him by his own words. Below are a few… Let Odinga’s political legacy continue. Let’s never give up the fight for our freedom; it may take a long time, but never give up!
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On how the treatment of those who fought for the freedom of Kenya and the Mau Mau uprising : The men and women who paid the ultimate price so that we may live in freedom only had the nasty reward of being called bandits and terrorists when the war was over.
On the Mau Mau revolution: I can feel the pain of the Mau Mau and other freedom fighters. They must have concluded that life is cruel and worthless and that Kenya has no place for heroes.
On education: Regardless of what you hear, the successes and failures you see, it still pays to work hard and play by the rules. Success is a lie when founded on shortcuts and deals negotiated in smoke-filled rooms.
On choosing the best people to govern the country : The security of the country must be in the hands of the best men and women for the job.
On his lifelong struggle against corruption and for the betterment of Kenya : I don’t fight individuals, I fight systems.
As a reminder of his time as a political detainee in the 1980s : Freedom is never given freely; it is won through struggle.
During the 2002 transition that saw the end of the KANU-rule, There comes a time when the nation is more important than an individual.
On winning elections, after his third attempt in 2013 : Three times I have run for president, two times I have won, and I have been robbed two times.
On the state of Kenya and African leadership : At independence, Kenya’s economy matched South Korea’s. Forty five years later, Korea is forty times larger. The mediocrity of leadership is Africa’s greatest curse.
On elections : You cannot have free and fair elections when one party controls and monopolizes the instruments of power.
His dream for Kenya, stated during his 2022 presidential campaign : My dream is a Kenya where no child goes to bed hungry.
African Heritage 